Senior center to host anniversary open house

WEST MILTON — On Sunday, the Milton-Union Senior Center and Community Club will host an open house in honor of it’s 50th anniversary as a non-profit organization.

Activities Director Carol Garver said the event is a celebration and an opportunity for the community to visit and learn more about the center.

From 3-6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, there will be tours of the facility, food, raffles and displays of pictures, books and articles from the center’s history.

Garver said she hopes that people from all around the area will “come out and share our celebration.”

According to Garver, a group started meeting in homes and wherever they could in the 1960s, with hopes of finding a permanent location for a senior center. It was incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit organization 50 years ago.

“They worked hard and had fundraisers,” Garver said.

In 1987, the organization celebrated the opening of its current location at 435 W. Hamilton St. and added a lounge addition in the ’90s.

In recent years there have been several improvements made to the center, which were made possible through donations and grants, Garver said. In 2015, a local Eagle Scout repainted the building. Garver said the bathrooms have been re-done and automatic doors installed.

The center is still raising funds to pay for the building’s new roof, she added. Basket raffles at Sunday’s open house will go toward the roof fund.

Garver noted that the center doesn’t receive any funding from the village of West Milton and instead relies on donations and income from renting out the building. A church rents out the space on Sundays and the center is also a polling place for elections, as it is handicapped accessible.

The center — which is an all-ages community space, not just a senior center — hosts a variety of events like bingo, card games, health screenings, and carry-in lunches. There are often speakers on subjects like new laws, senior fraud and healthcare.

“We’ve been doing some educating on how much is costs to go to a nursing home or assisted living,” Garver said.

For more information about the event or the center, call (937) 698-7129 or visit the Milton Union Senior Center & Community Club Facebook page.